Deadly Attacks Widen In Lebanon

At Least 51 Killed As Diplomats Struggle Over Cease-Fire Plan

(CBS/AP)  A tearful Lebanese prime minister pleaded for an end to a war that has killed more than 700 people, including at least 51 on Monday. He declared U.N. diplomacy pointless unless the world body orders an immediate Israeli pullout from his country after a cease-fire with Hezbollah guerrillas.

Within hours, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's Cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah ministers, voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw south of the border.

The move was an attempt by the Lebanese leadership to show that it has the will and ability to assert control over the country's south, which is run by Hezbollah. Lebanon has been unable for nearly two years to implement a U.N. resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim militia backed by Syria and Iran.

CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk says "a consensus is clearly growing that a link between a cease-fire and timely withdrawal of Israeli troops may be in a revised resolution.

"The other elements of a longer-term political solution – one that returns prisoners, withdraws Israel's troops, disarms Hezbollah, places an international force in southern Lebanon and gives the border protection back to the Lebanese army – may take longer to resolve," Falk added.

President Bush said Monday that any cease-fire must prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its grip in southern Lebanon, asserting "it's time to address root causes of problems." He urged the United Nations to work quickly to approve a resolution to stop the hostilities.

Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said an immediate cease-fire would not have worked before now — time was needed to build an international consensus that Hezbollah can no longer act as an armed state within a state, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have sharply intensified in recent days as cease-fire diplomacy gains traction after nearly a month of unproductive talks. A U.S.-French cease-fire plan now under scrutiny at the United Nations has drawn only lukewarm support in Israel and vilification in the Arab world. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah has found an incentive to stop fighting, and both may be trying to gain advantage on the ground before a cease-fire.

At least 51 people died Monday on both sides. Israeli attacks killed at least 49 people, Lebanese authorities said, including 10 in a sunset strike on south Beirut. Hezbollah fired 160 rockets, wounding five Israelis, police and rescue services said. And two Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbail, the military said.

It was one of the deadliest days for Lebanese in nearly four weeks of fighting, higher than on Friday, when at least 32 Lebanese civilians and two Lebanese army soldiers were killed. However, casualty counts have proved difficult to confirm — in one case, the initial death toll of 56 in the town of Qana was later cut in half.

With Arab League foreign ministers assembled around a horseshoe table, the embattled Lebanese leader repeatedly interrupted his opening address to gather his composure and wipe away tears. The foreign ministers cast their eyes downward in apparent embarrassment.

But Saniora's impassioned appeal did not change minds in Israel, where hospitals in the war zone were working around the clock and under rocket fire to protect patients from harm — in some cases moving them into a basement. The defense minister threatened an expanded ground operation if diplomacy does not produce results soon.

"I gave an order that, if within the coming days the diplomatic process does not reach a conclusion, Israeli forces will carry out the operations necessary to take control of rocket launching sites wherever they are," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.

Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Israel could not withdraw before the arrival of an international force. "The moment we leave, Hezbollah will return."

The U.N. resolution, drafted by the U.S. and France, calls for "a full cessation of hostilities" based on "the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

[meshoogle]

If one shall think that Israel is wrong for hitting a building with civilians, well if you have a country that has terorists fighting from there, don't expect that your civilians won't get hurt! stop the terorist from your country!!

[verrz]

The principle of action-reaction holds true for history: Let a bellicose neocon regime entrench itself in Washington and voila, you will get opposing regimes in abundance.

[emanualhyman]

CBS%u2019s biased reporting disserves America. CBS: %u201CIsrael intensified strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon Monday, killing at least 33 people.%u201D. Another source: %u201CLate Monday evening IAF fighters struck targets in a Hizbullah-controlled neighborhood of Beirut. Security officials at the scene reported at least five dead and 20 others wounded. Earlier, Lebanese Prime Minister Saniora said one person died in an earlier Israeli air raid on Houla, reversing his earlier claim that 40 were killed there.%u201D How many were killed? Human rights observers revised a claimed 48 dead in another incident to 27 dead, you trumpeted 48, but never mentioned the revised 27. CBS: %u201CIsrael's attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 617 people, including 524 civilians, 29 Lebanese soldiers and at least 53 Hezbollah guerrillas%u201C - source? Hiszbula, as a London Daily Telegraph expose reported? Israel reports 400 Hizbula killed. Missing on CBS: While Israel takes casualties to minimize civilian deaths, Hizbula targets civilians; disrupted lives of Israeli civilians under attack; failed UN and Lebanon commitments to disarm Hizbula; US response if Al Queda hid out in Cuba and kidnapped US soldiers, with 18,000 missiles aimed at the US; death in Lebanon compared to death inflicted by UN troops in Kosovo. Why, CBS?

[emanualhyman]

If the Lebanese army has claimed it was unable to control Hizbula heretofore, and if, as reported, many members of the Lebanese army are Hizbula sympathizers, why would anyone think that the Lebanese army will be able to, or want to, control Hizbula now? The proposal is to call in the mice to guard the cheese?

[emanualhyman]

Re: My earlier, longish posting on CBS%u2019s biased reporting, I found the following on CNN: Quote: The AP reported that Israeli attacks killed 49 people Monday, noting that such tallies have been difficult to confirm. Unquote. Note the AP qualification. These tallies are indeed difficult to confirm, see my earlier post. They should not be quoted in an unqualified manner; perhaps they should not be quoted at all until there is good, confirmed information. I seem to remember that proper journalism calls for getting the correct story, even if the story takes a little longer.

By the way, I apologize for the legibility of that longish previous post %u2013 it seems that the computer translates quotation marks as %u201C and %u201D.

[emanualhyman]

You write - A tearful Lebanese prime minister pleaded for an end to a war that has killed more than 700 people, including at least 51 on Monday. Note - Said impassioned plea was based on Siniora saying that 40 people had been killed in the bombing of a building in an air aid on Houla. Guess what? CNN reports - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Monday that one person was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla, not 40 as he had earlier reported. Question %u2013 How credible are the numbers if even the Prime Minister can%u2019t get it right?

[jasteffen]

Why is there so much disrespect for the office of the President of the United States? Regardless of what you think of President Bush himself and his policies, he still holds the office of the President of the United States and deserves to be referred to as President Bush, and NOT "Mr. Bush."
Your Chief White House Correspondent, Jim Axelrod, in a complete display of his disdain for the Presidency, stated, %u201CMr. Bush and Secretary Rice are pushing two resolutions. The first calls for an immediate cease-fire." Furthermore on your website, the following is quoted, "Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said an immediate cease-fire would not have worked before now %u2014 time was needed to build an international consensus that Hezbollah can no longer act as an armed state within a state, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod."
A news agency is not supposed to be partial, but your Chief White House Correspondent, Jim Axelrod, shows his anti-Bush partiality plain as day in his reporting. This is a disgrace to our great nation. Show some respect. President Bush was duly elected to the office of the Presidency, like it or not.